WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee say "significant circumstantial evidence" exists that the coronavirus pandemic originated from a leak at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to The Times of London.
The report, which contradicts WHO conclusions following its investigative mission in Wuhan, claims the lab in Wuhan had been conducting what it calls 'dangerous research' on coronaviruses and had not followed 'necessary safety protocols,' risking an outbreak.
The report goes on to add that researchers in the lab were struck with 'COVID-19-like symptoms' in late 2019.
Addressing the idea that COVID-19 occurred naturally by jumping from another species to humans, the report says "little circumstantial evidence has emerged." The report's findings are, however, contested by Robert Garry, virologist at the Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, who pointed out to Politico that the majority of early cases in humans were linked to different markets that sold wildlife or wildlife products in Wuhan.